Best Short Stories of 2020

Reading a short story is not easy. You need to sit down and turn off notifications of your phone, partner, and baby. 99% of humans can’t do this anymore. We 1% are not smart but lucky to be not that busy.

I selected 5 stories from 2020, all of them are available online. I really want you to find some time and read these stories. I promise there’s magic happening.

Go, Team by Samantha Hunt

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/samantha-hunt-go-team/605554/

Conversation among mothers is uncontrollable. Yeah, they are not matched by their own will, but by their children. I love the contrast between the football field and the forest—the most powerful image of 2020.

The Most Photographed Mountain in Japan by Tony Coleman

https://thefictionpool.com/2020/04/21/the-most-photographed-mountain-in-japan-by-tony-coleman/

This semi-autographic story is very funny, particularly the talk with the companions to Mt.Fuji’s top. They go up and come down. The structure of the story is really intriguing.

The Other One by Tessa Hadley

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/13/the-other-one

It has a perfect beginning, which drives you to go through the twisted timelines until the last line.

Here & Where by Hannah Nahar

http://necessaryfiction.com/stories/HannahNaharHereWhere

Only talented writers can put a new tool like Tinder into a great narrative. Hannah accomplished it by describing our daily life delicately. I was totally into it.

Face Time by Lorrie Moore

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/face-time

This story tells the atmosphere of today, 2020. It must be challenging to write something happening now. In the history of Fiction, there are many scenes of a hospital room. This story is so unique. The family is not in the same room. They communicate via FaceTime; this is so 2020.

What I expect for 2021

The world is changing rapidly. Writing a story is not “efficient” at all. You can learn how to code and build great web services. You can learn how to edit a video and earn more fans than Haruki Murakami in 1 month. Then why we write and read stories? Because we know we don’t forget what we imagined, even after we forget what we laughed about on Youtube. I want to read new stories from new writers, as well as my favorites.